Hammeroids and The Hudson
by E-Raptor
Summary: A quick little thing that popped into my head... It was just another mission. Tony's old enemy Hammer is back, this time with another technologically buggy drone army. The team gets called in to take care of it and Clint ends up having a very, VERY bad day... I rate pretty much all of my stuff T, just to be on the safe side.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey peeps! Okay, so this is SUPPOSED to be a short, 3 or 4 chapter story, but knowing me it will probably morph into a 30 chapter epic by the end of the week… Anyway, it is ALSO my first NON-OC story EVER! Yay me! Alrighty, that said, enjoy!**

** A A A A A A A **

It was another one of those missions…the kind that can't seem to get any worse no matter how you look at it. As Clint Barton ran along the edge of the rooftops, dodging bullets and trying to reach a better vantage point, he mentally cursed Tony for getting the team into this. Barton didn't even know _who_ this "Hammer" guy was, or even what he wanted. He had been rudely awakened in his room on board the Helicarrier (the one he was refusing to leave even after most of the team had moved to Stark's tower) by a sleep deprived and grumpy Natasha…the other Avenger who didn't like to re-locate.

"We've got trouble." She had said, slamming open Clint's (locked) door and yanking the covers off of him. He was up in seconds, he was a light sleeper, but still only semi-conscious he had reached for his bow at his bedside, seen Nat, and had demanded what all the commotion was about. She then went on to explain that some old enemy of Stark's had broken out of prison and was currently bringing Hell to New York in some sort of rage attack with power-suit drones.

_Just another day at SHIELD…_ Clint had thought numbly as he dragged his coffee-craving carcass out of bed.

Nothing he could have imagined would have prepared him for what he saw as he flew the Quinjet over the New York skyline, all of the Avengers but Tony and Thor in the back. The city still looked like the abandoned scene of some hurricane touch-down sight from the teams battle with Loki several weeks previous, but now it was swarming with what Tony lovingly referred to over the comms as "_Hammeroids_". They were chasing civi's, blasting unnecessarily large holes in buildings, and generally raising hell.

It was about thirty seconds later that the jet was shot down, a small missile of some sort blowing off the entire right wing. In a burst on unaccustomed carelessness, Barton had accidentally hit his head on one of the controls in the jolt of the explosion, opening the hatch. The Avengers in back had little choice but to jump…partially due to the updraft caused by the open hatch and the fact that Banner was currently Hulking-out. This also gave Clint little choice. Abandoning the dead-man's post in the pilot's seat, he ducked under the arm of the green monster and jumped out of the jet, hearing the rushing of the wind as he fell and the crunching of the metal as the Hulk smashed the jet to pieces as it fell.

In what Clint would have denied being a miracle he landed lightly on a rooftop about fifteen feet down in a neat tuck and roll, only slightly annoyed by the roughness of the gravel rooftop scratching his quiver and bow as he got to his feet. Looking around and readjusting the comm in his ear he saw two blurred figures shoot by overhead…Thor and Stark, no doubt. They plowed headfirst into two of the huge metal beings currently putting holes in cars on the road below. Clint turned around when he heard footsteps on the gravel. Behind him on the rooftop stood Natasha, looking thoroughly pissed, and the Cap, looking a little less pissed and more alarmed.

"What's plan B Cap?" Said Tony's voice over the comms as he searched for another target. "Looks like you guys wrecked _another_ of my jets…" He added with a hint of annoyance. Steve frowned, getting control of his nerves after jumping out of a crashing jet. When he spoke, his voice echoed in the comms and out loud in Clint's ears.

"Uh…Tony, Thor? You keep the ones in the open areas under control, Widow and I will take out the ones in civilian areas…Banner seems to be holding his own…" He added and the others followed his gaze to where the Hulk was ripping apart a "Hammeroid" as it fired useless shots into the air.

"What about me Cap?" Clint asked, stringing his bow. Steve Frowned and looked over the edge of the building, watching a number of Hammeroids slowly blowing up buildings and cars as they made their way toward the outskirts of downtown.

"Can you keep them in the area? The less running around we have to do the better."

"No prob."

"Okay guys, let do this." Steve said, clapping his hands together. He and Natasha headed for a fire escape down the side of the building and Clint stepped to the very edge of the roof. He made a quick assessment of the robots clumsily stomping their way down the street below. They obviously weren't as advanced at Tony's armor, but they were built like tanks. Finding a weak spot susceptible to arrow strikes wasn't going to be a cake-walk. He started out with a normal arrow…maybe this would be his lucky day…

He pulled back the bow string. Somehow, the feel of a bow gave him a sense of confidence he rarely felt anywhere else. He lined up his shot, aiming for the gap between the head and shoulders of a Hammeroid heading in the Cap and Natasha's direction. Letting the arrow fly, he squinted, straining to see the point of impact from his place on the six-story building. The arrow hit exactly where he had aimed for and the shaft stuck out of the gap in the robot's armor. Immediately it froze, mid-step, and for one hopeful moment it looked like it was going to fall over, then it's small, red-eyed head slowly turned, snapping the arrow as it looked at Clint.

Barton was half-way through a creative stream of swears when the thing let a volley of bullets showed the rooftop. Clint dove backwards, avoiding the worst of the attack, but feeling his leg jolted to the side as a bullet skimmed his skin. He didn't have time to wipe away the blood dripping down his leg before he had to be up again, running as the Hammeroid appeared over the edge of the roof, floating on a jet of flames under its feet.

"Dammit Tony!" Clint spat into the comms as he retreated across the roof. "Why didn't you tell us they could fly?"


	2. Chapter 2

_**Okay, REALLY short chapter…but yeah, anyway…I'm going to be leaving for cam tomorrow so I won't be updating any of my stuff for a week. Rest assured, however, that I **__**will**__** have my notebook within three feet of my person **__**ALL WEEK**__**, so I will STILL be writing, just not in a directly publishable format. That is all.**_

"Uh, slipped my mind…" He heard Tony answer. "Jarvis, remind _me_ to remind _them_ about any flying robots next time, k?" he added. Clint rolled his eyes and dodged another round of fire from the robot flying overhead.

Thank God the roof he was on was one of those old buildings that had a number of small, shed-like structures for him to duck behind as the Hammeroid continued to shower him with bullets. Not wanting to waste arrows but not really in a position to be stingy, Clint jumped over an external vent that crossed the roof and fired an explosive-tipped arrow over his shoulder. He was certain it would do more damage than the plain arrow had, but he hadn't taken into account the short distance between himself and the bot. Roughly half a second after he had released the bow string he mentally slapped himself in the forehead. The robot exploded all right, but also created a fireball about twenty feet high as all of the ammunition it carried blew up at once, sending Clint flying a good distance before he landed hard on his back, knocking the wind out of him.

A light shower of metal shrapnel and gravel fell from the sky around Barton. He couldn't move and for several horrible seconds he wondered if he was paralyzed, but he was relieved that when he told his toes to move they did. He groaned loudly, but remembered too late that the rest of the team could hear him through their comms.

"Crap, man! You alright?" It was Tony. Obviously the fireball had been visible from wherever he was currently occupied. Clint held back another groan, instead commanding his vocal cords to say something slightly more productive.

"Shut it Stark…"

"Sorry buddy…" Tony answered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "How many more of those arrows have you got?"

Clint dragged himself to a sitting position, attempting to get his bearings. He was surprised by how far he had been thrown by the explosion.

"Uh, nine. I brought extras today…" He muttered, dusting off his pants and wincing as his hand brushed a bullet graze on his right shin.

"Clint? What happened?" It was Natasha, and she sounded both worried _and_ pissed.

"Nothing Nat, I'm fine…" He said.

"Not _you_, how did you kill that thing?"

Clint defiantly heard Tony snicker over the comms.

"Uh, explosive-tipped arrow. Didn't Tony give you those mini-EMP thingies?"

"Tony?" Natasha's voice was cold and even.

"Uh...see, I was _gonna_ give those to you. But I sort of…" Stuttered Stark.

"Save it. Go get them." Natasha snapped.

"But…"

"_Go!_" She hollered. Tony muttered something under his breath, but seconds later Clint saw a flash of red metal shoot by in the sky. He waved with a "See ya!" into the comms. Tony flipped him the bird as he passed.

Barton got painfully to his feet and peered over the edge of the rooftop. Below he could see Steve clinging to the arm of a Hammeroid, getting thrown around like a ragdoll. Clint pulled out his bow and reloaded with another explosive arrow.

"Hey Cap?" He said over the comms. For a second only static answered, then an adrenaline-hyped and out of breath Steve yelled back.

"What?"

"Get out of the way!"

Rogers dropped off of the robot's arm. He was thrown into the side of a building but recovered quickly and made a run for it. Barton held off until he was sure Steve was at a safe distance before letting the arrow fly. It hit the joint around the bot's waist where it stuck for a brief second, then exploded, sending Hammeroid bits shooting into the air. Seeing it at a distance made him wonder how in the hell he had survived.

He gave up trying to figure that out and started running for a better vantage point. He would have preferred to have been on a slightly larger roof, as this one ended not much further down. Now at the far edge of the rooftop, Clint could see the murky Hudson River. He paused a second, remembering the conversations the team had started about the river. Steve had always insisted that it was cleaner when he was a kid, and Tony said he swore the fish in there glowed at night. Clint cast it a disapproving glance and sized up the gap between his roof and the one next to it. It was maybe seven feet wide, but the other roof was a good three feet down as well, so he might have a chance of jumping if he didn't screw up. Then again, today hadn't exactly been going according to plan…


End file.
